The Interactions podcast, a podcast about the interactions between law and religion, is produced by the CSLR and distributed by Canopy Forum. New episodes now available.
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Read essays here from our latest webinar on Law, Religion and Immigration. Our other series include essays on topics like Religious Violations, Transnational Christian Nationalism, IVF, and more.
View of the Vatican City Gardens by Patrik Kunec (CC BY-SA 4.0). My earlier column reviewed Washington’s recently passed Senate Bill 5375 that would have required Roman Catholic priests to violate their sacred duty to maintain the seal of confession by reporting those who committed the heinous act of child abuse to state authorities. Based…
Islamic Da’wah Center in Houston, Texas by Jim Evans (CC BY-SA 4.0). From McKinney to Weatherford to Josephine, Texans are losing sleep over the Muslims moving in and allegedly instituting “sharia law.” It’s a disaster! In early 2025, a viral video raised public concern about the creation of Muslim “sharia cities” in the heart of…
“Climate Angels at Extinction Rebellion Declaration Day Melbourne” by John Englart (CC BY-SA 2.0) “I don’t want the same world, just eco.” These are the words of an activist interviewed in the 2021 documentary, Rebellion, directed by Maia Kenworthy and Elena Sánchez Bellot. The film tells the story of Extinction Rebellion (XR), arguably one of…
The Healing of Tobit by Bernardo Strozzi (CC0 1.0). There is ongoing discourse about the relationship between patient agency and external factors in health outcomes. It can be difficult to identify the multifaceted variables that answer the question of why one person becomes ill and not another. While individual action does certainly play a role,…
Christian Natural Law and Religious FreedomAlex Deagon The following is an excerpt from Chapter 5 of Alex Deagon’s new book, Christian Natural Law and Religious Freedom: A Foundation Based on Love, the True, and the Good (Copyright 2025 by Imprint). Reproduced by permission of Taylor & Francis Group. Page numbers refer to publications linked in…
Russell Senate Office Building by Architect of the Capitol (US-PD). During his second term, President Barack Obama attempted to restart the Israel-Palestine peace process, following in the footsteps of every president since George H.W. Bush. Like other attempts, it fell apart quickly, much to the frustration of all. In April of 2014, then U.S. Secretary…
The Inquisition Tribunal by Francisco Goya (PD-Art). Bartolomé de Las Casas (c.1484–1566)—the first Catholic bishop of the Americas—commented on many of the controversies of the Spanish Empire of his day. While he never evaluated the Inquisition in writing, his life intersected with it several times. (Curiously, though Las Casas was possibly descended from conversos, or…
Saint Peter’s Basilica, Vatican City via Wikimedia Commons (CC0-01). Washington’s controversial Senate Bill 5375, “An ACT Relating to the duty of clergy to report child abuse and neglect,” scheduled to go into effect on July 27, 2025, removes the legal protection for Roman Catholic priests under the seal of confession when dealing with mandatory sexual…
School of Athens, painting by Rafael (US-PD). Throughout history, rulers facing crises have often turned to oracles, sages, and spiritual guides for wisdom. More than 2,500 years ago, King Croesus of Lydia consulted the Oracle at Delphi on whether to wage war against Persia. The Oracle replied that if Croesus attacked, he would “destroy a…
Photo of Mike Nichols at the National Film Society Convention by Alan Light (CC BY 2.0). In the fall of 1966, Hollywood studio magnate Jack Warner and a young first-time director, Mike Nichols, faced independent, but interlocking conundrums. The trouble centered on the film adaptation of Edward Albee’s award-winning play, Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf?—the…